An Exploration on the Factors Influencing Exhibitor's Participation Decision in Professional Exhibitions

Abstract

With the continuous development of the exhibition industry around the world, various professional exhibitions have emerged. Exhibitors are an important component of professional exhibitions, and their participation decisions are a key factor affecting the success of the exhibition. The objective of this study is to reveal the reasons which affect the exhibitor’ s participation decision in professional exhibitions. This exploration uses descriptive statistics and factor analysis methods, and the data collection method is online self-administered questionnaires. This study obtains data by distributing questionnaires at the exhibition site and a sample of 201 valid respondents is achieved. This research explores the possible influencing factors of exhibitors choosing professional exhibitions, extracts the main influencing factors, determines their influence weights, and reveals the main factors that affect the exhibitor' s participation decision. Four influencing factors are extracted through factor analysis, namely “Exhibition”, “Organiser”, “Exhibition venue”, and “Professional visitors & Exhibitors”. The conclusion is that most important influencing factor is “Exhibition”, the situation of the exhibition itself.